For a while, it was looking like the bowl spots for 2016 would be filled up. However, the last week wasn’t kind to the bubble. Only five teams became newly bowl-eligible and 12 teams were eliminated from primary bowl consideration.

-There are 80 bowl spots for the 128 FBS teams in 2016.-64 teams are bowl eligible-18 teams are one win away.-2 teams are two wins away.-44 teams are eliminated.

17 spots are left and there’s only 20 teams that could get to six bowl-counting wins. Time is running out and some teams need to get bowl eligible quickly. Let’s start.

Independents

BYU has reached six wins and thus will play in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl against a team from the Mountain West.

Army is 6-5 overall, but their win against FCS Lafayette doesn’t count because they Leopards didn’t offer enough scholarships to be a bowl-counter. The only way to become bowl eligible is to #BeatNavy. However, if the Black Knights don’t sing second, they will still be ahead of all the 5-7 teams if there are less than 80 six-bowl-counting-win teams. So it looks like Jeff Monken’s side is looking good regardless.

The American Athletic

While Cincinnati looked anemic in a 34-7 loss to Memphis to fall off the bowl bubble, SMU looked decent in a 35-27 loss to USF. Still, it puts the Mustangs at 5-6 overall with one more game left versus Navy. The Midshipmen have already clinched a birth in the AAC Championship game and selected their bowl game, so SMU will have more to play for.

Colorado State punched their bowl ticket with am emphatic 49-31 in the Hughes Stadium farewell versus New Mexico. UNLV fell off the bubble with a 42-25 loss at Boise State.

That leaves 5-7 Hawai’i, who can take advantage of the 13-game schedule rule named after them. A 14-13 last-second win on a blocked kick at Fresno State saved the Warriors’ chances and now face a 2-9 UMass team late, late Saturday night.

With the bowl situation like it is, having seven bowl-eligible teams from the MAC could be a good thing.

Central Michigan got in with a 27-20 upset win over Ohio last week. Ball State fell off with a 37-19 loss at Toledo. That leaves this Tuesday to decide the MAC’s bowl-eligible teams.

Miami of Ohio will host Ball State and Akron travels to Ohio. Not only is bowl eligibility on the line, but the MAC East as well. Wins by the RedHawks and Zips will send Miami to the MAC Championship game over Ohio. However, a loss by either will send the Bobcats.

This was looking tough for the Sun Belt, but the league got some good news on Sunday. South Alabama’s bowl waiver was approved, so the Jaguars can count their second FCS win, but only if the 80 bowl spots aren’t naturally filled up, just like Army. But that looks likely, so the Jags just need to go 1-1 down the stretch. Still, they can win two and disregard that entire caveat.

Georgia Southern and UL-Monroe fell off with losses last week, the Eagles in particular with a bad loss to Georgia State. With no championship game, that leaves two weeks left for the Sun Belt. UL-Lafayette and South Alabama both have tough ones this week.

What Potential 5-7 Teams Could Go Bowling

As mentioned at the top, with only 17 bowl spots left for 20 teams and the unlikeness of 85% of them winning out, APR will come into play to see who goes bowling in the leftover spots. Here’s a list of teams that could finish 5-7 in APR order.

Duke

995

Northwestern

992

Vanderbilt

990

North Texas

982

Boston College

981

Indiana

979

Maryland

977

Notre Dame

975

Syracuse

972

UCLA

972

Texas

971

Mississippi State

971

Northern Illinois

970

NC State

969

Cincinnati

969

Miami (OH)

969

Oregon

969

ULM

967

Arizona State

960

California

960

Ole Miss

958

Ball State

957

UTSA

956

Charlotte

955

Southern Miss

955

Louisiana

950

Nevada

949

Akron

947

South Alabama

947

SMU

945

FIU

942

Texas Tech

941

Georgia Southern

940

UNLV

936

TCU

935

New Mexico State

935

North Texas is the top G5 team, followed a long way down the line by Northern Illinois. Now some teams could decline a bowl game like what happened last season.

Hey Aggie Fans it’s easy to be excited when your winning every game. You guys showed up for footballs last home game when nobody thought you would. Do the same for @NMStateMBB . Fans will make the difference , see you there!!@#AggieUp